Cutting Through The Crap

Monday, March 30, 2009

R and Sympathy

Maybe I've been too hard on them. I'm an empathetic guy, compassionate and fair; the pain of others is the pain of me. I can walk in their shoes (assuming they're 14D) and know their sorrows. And so it is that I'm beginning to feel sorry for them. By "them" I mean thoughtful Republicans. Heck, even some of the more vitriolic commenters on this site. They have a lot to rationalize; it's gotta be hard.

Michael Steele, their titular leader, screws up over and over and claims it's all grand strategy. (For good measure, he's waiting until god lets him know, one way or the other, whether he should run for president. Hey, Mike: I was twittering god yesterday [thanks, Justine]. Trust me: he says go for it. Please. I can't wait for a ringside seat.)

Glenn Beck, their rising media star, believes President Obama plans to round up opponents and put them in concentration camps. Right, Glenn. And he's saving a seat on the bus for you.

Accomplished in nothing but asking a question in which he lied about or misconstrued everything, and, like Paris Hilton, famous only for being famous, Joe Three-pack becomes a party hero.

Michelle Bachmann (R-Batsh*t Crazy) is so sure the President plans to dump the dollar for some sort of world currency, she introduced a bill to prevent it. And like so many on her side of the line that divides psychosis from reality, she has no clue how clueless she is. But maybe she has a point: after all, who can prove Obama doesn't plan to sell Minnesota to Canada? Let's get a law going for that, too. Where does such insanity lead in the Republican party? Straight to Sean Hannity's show. And Glenn Beck's. (What is it with these people and their double "n" fetish? I'm waiting for them to start goose-stepping.) Hey, why not invite this gal, Sean? She's got actual street cred.

Now Newt, who, when Speaker overtly aimed to destroy the Democratic Party to claim a "permanent majority," and who has himself called for ending free speech, claims Obama is aiming for a dictatorship. Hey man, we're in a war over here! Funny how he didn't mind when Bush tossed the Constitution, rounded up citizens, lied about torture, and ignored Congress.

Best of all, John "OE Is Pronounced AY" Boehner has produced the Republican budget plan, holding up a nice blue booklet that contained almost no pages. It was so bereft that even right-wing reporters were puzzled. Containing huge tax cuts -- especially for the most wealthy -- with not even a whiff of a prediction of the financial implications, nor what would be cut to make up for them, the document was waved in triumph. Taking the failed Bush approach even further, it then adds a spending freeze, which not even Republicans (other than their credulous and cretinous Congressional crew) think is a good idea at this time. Boehner seemed irritated and surprised that it landed with a thud, but he assured us that details would be forthcoming. On April Fools' Day! How embarrassing is that? In his premature tractulation, it seems Bo(eh)ner has even pissed off his buddies.

True to form, based on the only actual numbers in the plan -- the tax brackets -- the rich pay less, the poor pay more. And the deficit increases by 300 billion more than the Obama plan. Boy, am I surprised.

Let's see what else: Republicans seethe over the idea that Democrats might use "budget reconciliation" rules to pass their budget, thus circumventing the sixty vote/filibuster route. It's running roughshod over the minority, they weep, rending their garments. While, typical politicians that they are, ignoring the fact that that's exactlywhat the Rs did to pass Bush's tax cuts, and about a dozen budgets in the past decades. As if that's not enough by way of self-parody, dozens of screamers are still riding the teleprompter meme, implying -- no, actually saying with no reservation -- that Obama can only talk with a teleprompter, while claiming Bush didn't. He did. And when he didn't, unlike Obama he babbled like an idiot. Yet on the meme rolls, oblivious to the numerous press conferences and interviews in which Obama has spoken clearly, intelligently, and with broad knowledge. In what kind of bubbled mind does such a thought resonate? In what world do politicians and pundits think it's an effective tactic? Really, guys, is that the best you can do?

So I can see why there's a certain amount of testiness out there: they don't have a lot on which to hang a happy hat. Their leaders are nonsensical at best, their ideas come pre-discredited. It's gotta be hard to be a Republican right now. I should let up for a while.

8 comments:

tribulation periwinkle
said...

It's surprising that you are writing so much about Act III of Repub. political theatre. Why not write about the real issues: torture, the criminalization of the vulnerable in the US (veterans,those with mental illness, those who are impoverished,those who are homeless,those who are jobless,etc.),the political prisoners right here in the US (Don Siegelman, Robert Scrushy, etc.) & how the US aims its full arsenal of government and law enforcement weapons at its whistle-blowers, who end up losing everything and dying. No awards,ceremonies and book deals for those who reveal what happened at Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo and the farce military commissions trials. What about writing about Cheney's death squad? (Sy Hersh) What about Obama's Bush light policies around executive power (Charlie Savage, Glenn Greenwald)?

Your reaction to them waving bright, shiny objects is disturbing, because if they are managing to distract you, a well-read and wise person,just think how effective they are with those who get their propaganda full strength from Fox et al.

It's important to start looking directly at exactly what these Republicans - traitors and terrorists - are doing. Talk about preventable deaths - just take a look at death rates by political affiliation, by poverty and by incarceration. That's real population control - killing off those who Repubs deem as surplus population.

Went back in the Way-Back Machine to March 2001...OK, I'm not gonna say there weren't any nasty comments at Clinton-Gore, but didn't hear anyone proposing War Crimes Trials... You sure seem to know alot about the Conservative Talk Show hosts..only one I ever listen to is Michael Savage, and thats cause I'm smart enough not to change my Wifes choice of Radio Station...

Norman is that you?? Funny how you ban the only commenter on your lame blog... and you seem to know alot about Nazi websites...just sayin... and "Spiny" is just another way to say "Prick"...rather appropriate..

Actually, I was thinking what a bad time to be a dem right now. You've won, but you can't seem to govern. No one home at Treasury, though Obama says that the economy is important. Your pres has whined about the deficit he inherited, then promised to triple it. The man he felt best to head Commerce says Obama's budget will bankrupt the country. Every time Obama speaks, the stock market drops. Your vice-pres is a moron who can't shut up. Not enough dems who have paid their taxes can be found to staff the cabinet.

Your number one political commentator is Keith Olbermann, the crazy one. Your most ardent fan was Chris Matthews, whose leg has stopped tingling. Your State Dept can't translate one word in Russian, can't pronounce names and has insulted the primary religious relic of our biggest trading partner. Your pres gave a gift of videos bought at Target to our number one ally. The future of your party is washed-up comedian Al Franken.

Your one bright spot is right now is that your pres has finally gotten some executive experience--he now seems to be the CEO of GM, hiring and firing as he sees fit.

Speaking of GM, there's a word for when the government controls the means of production and distribution. What was it again? It's on the tip of my tongue.

For The Sake of My Sanity

Some will know me from my other blog, "Surgeonsblog." Of late I've given over to frothing at the mouth as the world descends into stupidity, and our politics and our citizens seem, in numbers enough to be meaningful, unable to see it. So for now I'm leaving surgery writing behind, if for no other reason than to defuse and diffuse my unrelenting sense of doom, and with no expectation of making a difference. These are things that, to me, are obvious. Except that, apparently, they aren't.

RWS™

RWS™: For those who drop by here in the middle, and wonder what it means: it's my shorthand for Right Wing Screamers, which includes such a long list it's tiresome to type it. (I distinguish these blowhards from thoughtful conservatives, of whom I sort of take it on faith that there must still be some.) You know who I mean: Palin, Beck, O'Reilly, Limbaugh, Hannity, Coulter, Breitbart (RIP), Malkin, Savage, Levin, Ingraham, Doocey (more of a drooler than a screamer), Hewitt, Goldberg, Gingrich, Kristol, Scarborough (+/-), Bachmann, Inhofe, Bond, Broun, Boehner, Kelley, Santorum, Cain. To name but a few. Behold them in their unrepentant disregard for reality: the RWS™